Book Discussion on Washington Burning

Les Standiford talked about his book Washington Burning: How a Frenchman’s Vision for Our Nation’s Capital Survived Congress,…read more

Les Standiford talked about his book Washington Burning: How a Frenchman’s Vision for Our Nation’s Capital Survived Congress, the Founding Fathers, and the Invading British Army (Crown, May 6, 2008). The book details the design of the nation’s capitol by Pierre Charles L’Enfant and argues that the capitol was not a popular idea until after the British burned the major buildings in 1814. Mr. Standiford talked about his career and how he came to write the book. He gave an imaginary interview about the book and read a passage and then responded to questions from members of the audience.

BookTV and Les Standiford visited three Washington, D.C., locations on May 13, 2008: Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s Arlington Cemetery tomb overlooking the city, the Society of the Cincinnati library, and the statue at Washington Circle that was the original design for the Washington Monument. Mr. Standiford talked about the changing appreciation of L’Enfant and of the city of Washington. Ellen Clark, on the 225th anniversary of the Society of Cincinnati, talked about L’Enfant’s involvement with the society and showed examples of his work. close

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*The transcript for this program was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.